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Peter’s Pence
A
retiring collection will be taken today to support the ministry and
charitable works of Pope Benedict XV1.
Day for Life
A
retiring collection will be taken next Sunday, 5th July
for the Bishops’ work to promote the ethical and moral teaching of
the Catholic Church in England and Wales in the public affairs of
our country.
Oxford
Catholic Martyrs – Blessed Thomas Belson & His companions
On Tuesday 7th
July we shall be commemorating the martyrdom of Blessed Thomas
Belson, one of four Catholic Martyrs who died on 5th July
1589 for practicing the Catholic Faith. His companions on the
scaffold were two seminary priests, Father George Nichols and Father
Richard Yaxley, and a Welshman, Humphrey Prichard, the servant at
the inn where they had been arrested two months earlier. All four
men had been tried a few days before at the Oxford Summer Assizes in
front of a Puritan jury and convicted of treason and felony. But
their true crime was that they were all active practising
Catholics. Thomas Belson had spent the last few years of his life
helping priests like Father Nichols and Father Yaxley in their
secret journeys around England as they visited Catholics and
celebrated Mass, which had been banned, while for the previous
fourteen years Humphrey Prichard had been a servant the Catherine
Wheel Inn, a known meeting place for Catholics in Oxford. They were
beatified by Pope John Paul 11 in 1987.
A Job well
done!
I shall be writing a
letter shortly to thank the Goldman Sachs’ Community Team Works for
the successful completion of the project they named ‘Holy
Horticulture’ i.e.
the landscaping of a
section of the Church grounds to provide the parish priest with a
garden area to relax in and for small groups to sit-out in good
weather and enjoy a cuppa. You are all most welcome to enjoy this
garden facility. In particular, I should like to thank parishioner
Nicola Garrood who initiated this project, to Josephine Kirkwood,
Project Manager, to Olivia who was I/c of the working party and to
all the staff of Goldman Sachs’ who voluntary worked all day to
achieve their objective which was to provide a more distinctive
garden area in one section of Our Lady of Light church grounds. In
the next week or so I shall be purchasing a moderate size summer
house out of my own pocket so that I will have an all round the
year outdoor dwelling to sit in comfortably and be protected from
rain, snow, wind and heat !
Sea Sunday 12th
July 2009
At St Edmund’s and Our
Lady of Light we shall have a retiring collection for the
Apostleship of the Sea (AOS), the Catholic
Church’s outreach to international seafarers on Sea Sunday.
AOS deploys chaplains and ship visitors in our ports
who provide pastoral and practical help to seafarers, in the name of
Christ and his Church. In terms of financial need, AOS
requires 1-2 million pounds sterling annually to sustain it
world-wide apostolate. work Sea Sunday is its
principal annual fundraising and awareness-raising event. Please
be as generously as you can.
Thanks for
Donation
As many of you will
know, Catherine Pettit and her art students held a very successful
display of their art work in the John Butler Hall last weekend.
Lots of people visited the exhibition and many of the paintings on
display were sold. In these two ways appreciation was expressed to
Catherine and her fellow artists in admiration of their artistic
skills and work. £100.00p has been kindly donated to the parish
for use of the John Butler Hall.
Pro-Life
Witness
You are warmly welcome to join those who will be gathering next
Wednesday 1st July – between 12 noon & 1.00pm - for
Witness & Prayer at Entrance 4 of Stoke Mandeville Hospital to pray
for the cessation of abortion in our local hospital and throughout
the UK.
Fatima
Pilgrimage 5th-12th September 2009
Pilgrims will be
flying from Luton to Lisbon. The approximate cost of £395 per
pilgrim includes half board accommodation. Further information can
be obtained from Francis Phillips.
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